On the importance of having a reliable lord
All the cloth and cotton in the canteen had been put away, and the long wooden tables were now laden with dishes of every color, aroma, and flavor. Over a hundred cooks had rushed to finish the cooking before the monster horde ended, their spatulas flying sparks from the heat.
After all, the territory now had over ten thousand residents.
Fortunately, the canteen had been built extra large from the start; otherwise, they would have needed to expand just to fit everyone.
Most of the dishes on the table were meat-based. The vegetable stores were still limited—having three or four vegetable dishes was already good—and each person could even have half a watermelon.
Yan Yiqiu could guarantee that residents of other territories were not eating nearly as well. Even dessert fruit was prepared after the meal.
Once the territory’s warehouses had more food and fruit, she could even brew some wine—grape wine, bayberry wine, and the like.
After a battle, both veteran and new residents were still excited, grabbing any empty seats and chatting about the fight, regretting that their hands weren’t fast enough to fire ten shots per second.
The new residents who participated were the most thrilled: “That was amazing! Was your last monster siege this much fun?”
The veterans replied: “Yeah… weren’t you?”
Hearing this, the new residents looked up at the ceiling sorrowfully, silently shedding tears in their hearts: “No… in my previous territory, during the last monster siege, in the final two minutes the walls were breached.”
“They poured through the gap and killed many people. I was lucky to hide in a corner and survive.”
The veterans: “…!”
A territory could actually be breached? Their current territory must be extremely sturdy. Not only could it not be breached, but not even a claw mark could be left.
“To celebrate successfully repelling the monster invasion again, I’ll treat everyone to lunch. Eat your fill,” Yan Yiqiu’s voice drew everyone’s attention. She skipped formalities and went straight to the point: “There will be some fruit afterward—not much, just a little sweetness for you all.”
“After eating, we’ll tally our loot.”
“Thank you, Lord!”
“All thanks to our great lord~”
“Lord, you! Are! My! God!”
The festive atmosphere of abundance softened their awe and fear of Yan Yiqiu. Faces flushed with excitement, they loudly celebrated while sitting on benches, chatting and eating heartily.
Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan sat at the innermost square table, with the same dishes as everyone else.
“You all eat first; I’ll tally the treasure chests.”
She wasn’t very hungry and, after a brief greeting, accessed the territory system’s backend.
The small monsters killed during the siege were transformed into treasure chests, automatically collected by the system into her inventory. Each chest was marked with its owner for easy tallying later.
This haul contained more chests than last time. She personally collected over three thousand, most of which were green.
Still, they contained materials for upgrading the territory—a guaranteed profit.
Yun Yan collected nearly a thousand chests, 627 green and 322 blue.
Wei Jiaze had the least among the three: 466 green and 209 blue.
Nearly 19,000 chests remained.
Approximately 2,700–2,800 residents had participated in the battle, averaging six or seven chests per person—quite a substantial gain.
For other territories, a monster siege could be catastrophic or an extremely tense defense.
But for the Nirvana Territory, it was a veritable harvest season.
It was no different from money falling from the sky.
Some new residents started crying while eating, rice in their mouths, mumbling:
“If only I had been here from the start, my father wouldn’t have died…”
“My little brother was also killed by monsters; he told me to run.”
“My uncle didn’t die from monsters—he offended the lord by saying the wrong thing and disappeared after being expelled.”
“My old lord was a bastard. Luckily he died in the dungeon, otherwise who knows what suffering we’d have endured.”
The new residents recalled their painful memories.
The veterans comforted them: “Don’t dwell on the past. Keep looking forward.”
“Our lord is fair and kind. None of those things you mentioned will happen here.”
“As long as you’re alive, live well. Forget the sad things and eat your fill of meat and rice!”
“Think happy thoughts… do you know how many monsters I killed this time?”
Sharing a battle quickly forged camaraderie. Under the veterans’ comfort, the new residents calmed down and began discussing potential points and chest rewards.
Knowing they were eager, Yan Yiqiu finished organizing her inventory and immediately began calculating point rewards. The once lively canteen fell silent, eyes all focused on her.
“Those whose names I call, come claim your point chests.”
“Zhang Ting,” Yan Yiqiu’s clear voice echoed through the canteen, crisp and loud: “Killed eight small monsters, gained five green chests and three blue chests. After deducting used gunpowder, total points earned: 1,400.”
Zhang Ting didn’t expect to be called first. She froze for two seconds, then excitedly jogged to Yan Yiqiu.
She was lucky—after the last battle, she had opened a blue equipment chest, exchanging it for many points. With accumulated points from recent work, she had enough to apply for hot weapon usage and was successfully selected.
With her hot weapon, she killed eight small monsters this time!
Taking the chest from Yan Yiqiu, she blushed and whispered: “Thank you, Lord.”
“You’re welcome,” Yan Yiqiu smiled. “You earned it. Great job—keep it up.”
Her smile was radiant. Her slightly curly red hair framed her snow-white skin. When not smiling, her dark features were sharp and imposing, but her smile was gentle and strong, like a spring breeze melting winter snow.
Seeing her smile, Zhang Ting felt a sense of reassurance, as if no storm could frighten her.
She returned to her seat with the chest. Friends close to her immediately congratulated her.
“Zhang Kuan, killed four small monsters, earned 1,200 points and four chests.”
“Li Keke, killed three small monsters, earned 900 points and three chests.”
“… …”
“Wei Jiaze, killed 675 small monsters, earned 202,500 points and 675 chests.”
“Yun Yan, killed 949 small monsters, earned 284,700 points and 949 chests.”
All chests went to their rightful owners.
Yan Yiqiu looked at the remaining residents: “As usual, residents who didn’t participate earn 1,000 points. Next time, you’ll get priority on the battlefield.”
“Woohoo—”
“Thank you, Lord—”
Laughter and celebration filled the canteen again. Some impatient residents even opened their chests on the spot to check their loot.
Materials like wood and ore weren’t directly useful, so exchanging them for points was best. Only cloth or food items were personally useful, which could be kept or exchanged.
One chest could yield over ten thousand points—what a thrill.
Unfortunately, during the next monster siege, priority would go to those who hadn’t participated this time. If only there were more weapons in the territory… many residents sighed.
The new residents also exchanged enough points to become official residents, even those who hadn’t fought.
Each now wore a silver wristband, showing their identity as formal residents of Nirvana Territory.
Having seen wristbands in their previous territories, the new residents were familiar with them and quickly accessed the [Non-Player Forum].
Not all territories could immediately detect monster attacks. The forum was filled with wailing posts:
[Why does the lord’s territory get attacked by monsters as soon as they leave the dungeon? It was safe while they were in the dungeon! I hope they never come out—I’m tired of living on edge.]
[Our territory was nearly breached—so scary!]
[This time the monsters besieged for an hour—half an hour longer than last time…]
[The territory was broken into and many died. The lord hid behind us while sending us to our deaths. When will we get a new territory? #image #image #image]
The photos showed a huge gap in a black wall, crops trampled and scattered. No corpses were visible, but the blood on the ground spoke volumes.
The system quickly cleared human corpses.
Seeing these posts, the new residents reflected on past and present experiences, feeling grateful and a quiet sense of superiority.
Their territory was safe and reliable!
While residents of other territories were wailing over the heavy losses inflicted by the monsters, they were already holding a victory banquet, faces full of joy, even looking forward to when the monsters would appear next…
Having a reliable lord is truly amazing.
Some Nirvana residents quietly posted online, snapping several photos of the banquet they were halfway through eating.
[On the importance of having a reliable lord.]
[Original Poster: My previous lord died in a dungeon, and I was randomly reassigned to another territory. Oh my god, this lord is basically a god!! No need for words, here are the pics #pic #pic #pic. The lord led us to repel the monsters, and now we’re having a victory banquet~]
Although most of the food in the photos had already been eaten, it was still obvious how lavish it was. Most striking of all, each person had half a watermelon and several lychees, peaches, and other fruits in front of them.
[????]
[You guys eat this well? And there’s fruit???]
[Can someone tell me which territory this is? I’ll pray to be assigned here next time I change territories!]
[Why have I never encountered a reliable lord…]
[OP, delete your post. My eyes are red from jealousy.]
[Fake! I don’t believe it, it must be photoshopped, unless you tell me the territory’s name.]
[OP is right. Having a reliable lord is really important. My lord is reliable too—no victory banquet, but at least we’re not sent to die. When monsters appear, children and the elderly are allowed to hide first.]
[Clicked the like button hard.]
[I know the lord is important, but I just can’t seem to meet a reliable one!]
The post almost immediately received many replies, startling the OP. Just as they were about to respond, nearby residents pulled them into a chat, and they completely forgot about the post.
Yan Yiqiu casually ate a bit, leaving the rest of the cleanup to Lin Shuya and Yun Zhiyuan, and slowly got up to leave the dining hall for the villa.
After walking a few meters, Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze caught up.
“Sis, let’s open the boxes together!” Yun Yan’s eyes curved like crescent moons, her sweet voice cheerful as she grabbed Yan Yiqiu’s arm.
Yan Yiqiu glared at her: “Do you want to open boxes with me, or just soak up my luck?”
Yun Yan blinked her big watery eyes, looking adorably: “I just want to feel like a lucky emperor. Anything good I get, I’ll give to you!”
“If only I had met you earlier, maybe I would have pulled that dream card I’ve never gotten—”
Yun Yan’s personality matched her lively, cute appearance. With her around, there was never a dull moment. She didn’t ignore anyone, chatting here and there, flirting with Yan Yiqiu, then turning to ask Wei Jiaze how many blue boxes he had.
The three returned to the villa and sat on the wooden sofa with cushions and pillows in the living room, ready for the tense and exciting box-opening event.
Yun Yan touched Yan Yiqiu and Wei Jiaze’s hands and performed a little ritual: “Good stuff come~ Good stuff come~ Good stuff come from all directions~~”
“Ah? Damn, the luck buff is gone!”
Seeing the items from the boxes, Yun Yan lightly pounded the pillow in her arms: “There are a few blue-quality items, but their effects aren’t even as good as this one I have. Completely useless!”
No need to go into the materials—they’re guaranteed from the boxes… Wait? Something’s off with the materials!
“The materials aren’t as much as last time?”
Yun Yan thought carefully: “Last time I opened 219 boxes, got around 50-60k wood and 2-3k raw meat. This time I opened 4-5 times more, but the wood is just barely over 100k?”
It should have been 200-300k!
Yan Yiqiu calmly said: “Probably because last time was our first monster siege, and with the territory gaining so many residents, the system secretly gave us a bonus. Now the bonus is gone, materials are back to normal.”
Yun Yan: “…Makes sense.”
The monster boxes’ rewards were weaker than dungeon monsters’, so it wasn’t very exciting. Yun Yan sighed in disappointment and threw the materials into storage, then looked at Wei Jiaze.
“….” Wei Jiaze understood her glance and quietly said: “I didn’t get anything good either.”
Yun Yan: “Looks like it’s the system’s fault, not my bad luck!”
She firmly refused to admit she was unlucky!
Yan Yiqiu opened her boxes, and seeing the rewards confirmed that the system had quietly adjusted the material drop rates back to normal.
Out of nearly three thousand boxes, she got just over 500k wood; high-grade ores were even less. Aside from territory upgrade materials, the living materials like meat, sugar, flour, and cloth were much fewer, no blueprint items appeared, and the equipment drops were mostly mediocre—directly put them on the market.
“Sis, how much material do we need to upgrade to Level 9 territory? Aren’t these enough?” Yun Yan asked.
Wei Jiaze also tilted his head.
Yan Yiqiu answered: “Two million wood, 1.2 million Tier 1 ores, 950k Tier 2 ores, 600k Tier 3 ores, 444k Tier 4 ores, 200k Tier 5 ores, and 150k gold coins.”
Yun Yan: “?”
Wei Jiaze: “??”
Both reacted in perfect sync: “That much??”
Over a million already!
“The required materials will only increase with future upgrades,” Yan Yiqiu said calmly. “But correspondingly, dungeon monster drops will likely increase too, so upgrading won’t be too hard.”
“You think it’s a lot because our territory leveled up too fast. Other territories are probably around Level 6-7, at most 7. We’re already Level 8.”
“Check the leaderboard yourselves.”
Right, there was a leaderboard update in the game they hadn’t checked yet.
Yun Yan immediately opened the panel.
[Territory Level Leaderboard]
Except for the first place, which was anonymous, all other territories were Level 7—even the last on the list.
She browsed other leaderboards briefly. Most combat players were Level 5-6; Level 7 combat players were rare!
Yun Yan felt great—she was a prestigious Level 7 combat player, and would soon reach Level 8~
Wei Jiaze opened the [Bard Leaderboard], and to his surprise, his name was first.
He remembered the system had asked him about anonymity before. At that time, he was fully focused on leveling the territory and didn’t care. Now realizing it, he quietly chose anonymity…
“Wow, the forum is so lively,” Yun Yan said, opening the player forum, seeing trending posts everywhere.
Hearing her, Yan Yiqiu glanced at the forum too.
After dungeons, she had been spinning like a top, with no time to check forums. Now she saw players furiously posting complaints about the game.
[OMG, I was asleep and a resident came running to tell me monsters were at the city wall’s base! Is the system broken? Didn’t it alert me?]
[You didn’t get alerts? I thought it was a bug.]
[This broken game just wants to kill us.]
The feeling was exactly like her previous life.
Yan Yiqiu smiled slightly. Players always complained about the game; if they weren’t, they were dead or too busy. Venting became part of daily life. She had been one of them in her previous life.
She scrolled through ten more pages before seeing other types of posts.
[Guys, who knows? Coming out of the dungeon, my territory almost got a new lord. A bunch of clueless people occupied my house and tried to kick me out, hhhh. I suspect they didn’t even listen to the system instructions.]
Seeing this, she raised an eyebrow, leaned back comfortably, and clicked to see the details.
[OP: When I was assigned to the territory, I felt sorry for them and gave them what little food I had. When it wasn’t enough, I reluctantly bought more at high prices from the market. Looking back, I was silly. Some people just like to push boundaries— the nicer you are, the more they think they can bully you.]
[OP is clearly a girl.]
[You’re too kind. They won’t die from being hungry for two days; just let them fend for themselves.]
[Serves them right. Times have changed. In this situation, forget morality. I’m the lord, and everyone must obey. Disobedience means being kicked out.]
…
Where there are bizarre lords, there are naturally bizarre residents too.
The difference is that lords have absolute control over their territories—so even if they suffer losses, it’s never a huge problem. Residents, on the other hand, must follow the lord’s rules if they want to survive.
Some players have limits—they won’t do anything too extreme to the residents of their territories, at most favoring those they have good relations with. Others have no limits at all, treating residents like toys, bullying and abusing them however they like.
Residents either endure until the monthly territory reassignment or risk their lives confronting the lord directly.
But players don’t always realize this yet.
Residents over forty-five cannot qualify as players, but minors automatically become players once they turn eighteen. However, they cannot choose whether to be combat or life-focused players; the system assigns this completely at random.
Is this considered a perk for the first batch of players?
Yan Yiqiu remembered something from the early stages of the game in her previous life.
There was a player who didn’t consider their own territory’s residents as people. Every dungeon run, they bullied and humiliated the residents to vent their negative emotions. Eventually, one of the minors in the territory, who automatically became a player upon reaching adulthood, turned the tables and defeated them.
She remembered it because that kid was impressive. Despite becoming a player slightly late and missing the optimal start, they caught up extremely quickly and later became a well-known high-level combat player.
Thinking of this, Yan Yiqiu’s thoughts drifted. How had she forgotten such an important detail before?
After all the tasks were done, she felt like her memories of her previous life were somewhat fuzzy. Without carefully thinking things through, she couldn’t recall them.
Thus, all minors in a territory are actually potential allies.
When they reach adulthood, their status automatically changes to player, giving them an opportunity to establish their own territory. They can choose whether to take this chance.
The vast majority of players will choose to decline. By the time they become players, the monsters attacking territories are already fairly strong. Even if they establish a territory, if they cannot raise its level, it’s essentially a death sentence.
So these players are left with two options: remain in their current territory, or join another.
Yan Yiqiu raised her hand to her chin and pulled up the list of registered residents.
She had no idea—until she saw it.
The number of seventeen-year-old minors in the territory was nearly five hundred, though their exact adulthood dates were unknown. Even if only half of them stayed when they became players, it was still a considerable number.
Yan Yiqiu absentmindedly twirled a strand of red curly hair around her little finger.
She wouldn’t force these people to stay—those who aren’t willing would eventually cause trouble. The specifics could be dealt with later.
With that thought, she retracted her mind, stretched lazily, and greeted Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze: “I’m going to grind life-level skills now.”
Hearing this, Yun Yan immediately paused her forum scrolling and looked over eagerly: “Sis, is there anything I can help with? Suddenly having free time feels weird.”
Wei Jiaze silently nodded in agreement.
“Let me think,” Yan Yiqiu elongated her words and then smiled at them. “If you’re really bored, maybe you two can spar with each other?”
Yun Yan’s eyes lit up instantly, brimming with excitement as she looked at Wei Jiaze: “Let’s go, let’s spar!”
Wei Jiaze: “……”